Klarinet Archive - Posting 000053.txt from 1996/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: About the bassethorn and Stravinsky Wind Symphony
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 08:30:08 -0500

I have a delicious story to add to the discussion that was first
brought up by Dave Bourque in Canada and to which Nick Shackleton
added some material. Larry Combs of Chicago to it to me and it
was he to whom this happened.

They were doing the 1929 version of Stravinsky's Symphonies of
Wind Instruments whose third part does say "Alto Clarinet in F"
as both Dave and Nick indicated. Larry was playing the part on
basset horn.

Suddenly, the conductor stopped, looked at Larry and said, "What are
you playing that part on?". Larry took a quick look at the part and
said, "This is an alto clarinet in F" to which the conductor replied,
"Good! Do you know that in Europe they often play that part on
a basset horn!!"

I did the work with the San Diego Symphony about 8 years ago and then
I did the work with the San Jose Symphony the following season. The
SD did the 1929 version and I played basset horn. The SJ did the
more recent version and I played third clarinet. The parts appeared
to me to be identical, but that was only my recollection. I did not
look that carefully.

I also mention that, for a while, LeBlanc had, in their catalog, an
advertised "Alto Clarinet in F" that was a straight model, like a
soprano clarinet, no bend, no bocal, no metal bell, that descended
to a low E only. While it could be used for works such as Mozart's
Requiem, it could not be used for the Gran Partitta, the Titus aria,
etc. or any work that required the low basset notes from E-flat on
down. Jack Kreiselman of NYC owned one and I played on it on one
occasion.

Finally this: the fingering arrangement for the low basset notes of
both the Selmer and the narrow bored Buffet were identical for a
long while. Then Selmer did an improvement by putting a second
thumb key on it, and Buffet went to a large bore, and the instruments
diverged in major ways after that. But while both of them did have
the same one-thumb-key model, it was technically impossible to play
some of the major elements of the basset horn repertoire. I don't
mean difficult. I mean impossible.

Any slurred interval from low C to any of the following notes could
not be done: low E-flat, low E, low F-sharp, and low G-sharp. This
was because the low C required both pinkys and there was then no
alternative for this fingering. So a movement from low C to any of
the intervals indicated involved moving a pinky and thus could not
be accomplished if one had to slur the interval. It was awful. I
wrote and complained for years. It did little good. (One could
also not slur from low E to low C, low F-sharp to low C, or low G-sharp
to low C, though low E-flat to low C was possible).

What one COULD do with the mechanism was to play chromatic scales
very nicely, both up and down. It appeared to me that whoever
designed the fingering system had no experience with the basset horn
repertoire and did not know the consequences of what was being done.

When I pointed out to a manufacturer the very works in the repertoire
that COULD NOT be accomplished effectively with their instrument, the
reaction I got, though it was unstated, was that somehow I should be
able to work around the impediment.

It was not a good case of manufacturer making an effort to understand
the precise details of what the marketplace required, nor am I sure
that their new two-thumb-key model solves the problems either.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
====================================